Anime, Manga Club pulls together fans of the art

Kris Roloff, left, Jordan Rogers, center, and Michael Baxevanis, all dressed as
members of Akatsuki, talk with each other during the Teen Anime & Manga
Club meeting at the Henderson County Library on Saturday. The club is for teens who are interested in Japanese animation.

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They draw, watch movies, dress up like characters and are working on creating a newsletter for the club so that they can develop their own characters, stories and drawings.

The club, which averages anywhere from 15 to 20 students at each meeting, allows the students to share their mutual interests in anime and manga. Anime is the Japanese form of animation. Manga is Japanese comics.

“This just gives them the opportunity to get together, talk about it and socialize,” club organizer and library employee Loree Kelly said.

Kelly was approached by a student last year about whether a club existed. She was familiar with anime and jumped at the opportunity to get the kids into the library using anime as a vehicle.

“It gets them into the library, which is exactly what we want,” she said. The library has a sizable Manga collection and Kelly hopes that that will lead the kids to read other things while there.

The club, which meets two Saturdays a month at the Hendersonville branch, began in March last year and has taken off in popularity. Students from all over Henderson County come to the club meetings. The club is for students ranging from sixth-graders to seniors in high school.

The students are happy to have a place to socialize and find a common bond with other kids who share their interest for the thriving art.

To the students, that’s exactly what it is — art. It goes much deeper than just entertainment, West Henderson High student Jacqueline Black said.

Watching the shows opened her eyes to Japanese culture, she said. And the variety of the subjects makes the art interesting. There’s robots, the supernatural, romance and so much more, she said. It also helps with identity and role models for youth in a world of animation where there aren’t a lot of them.

“It’s more like we’re trying to figure out who we are also,” she said. “You can find some pretty good idols in the comic books.”

Black was dressed as Sabuku no Gaara on Saturday afternoon. Black is the president of the Anime Club at West Henderson.

Chrissy House brought her son, Steven, to the club meeting Saturday and watched as he went to the front of the Kaplan Auditorium. He sat down at a table, pulled out some drawing utensils and went to work drawing anime and manga characters.

Steven House, who is 20 and is autistic, is the oldest member of the club.

“He loves to draw and anime is his style of drawing,” Chrissy House said. “When we heard about this, we said ‘lets’ give it a try.’ He loves it. He thinks it’s the best thing in the world.”

Jordan Rogers, a student at Heritage Hall International, was dressed as Kasame Akatsuki on Saturday. Rogers had a long sword and was dressed in a long, black coat. His love for anime comes from the characters.

“It’s like an escape from reality,” he said. “I can relate to the characters in my own way.”

Rebekah Lunsford sat on the perimeter of the room taking everything in. She has seen the club transform her quiet daughter, Hannah.

“Hannah’s come out of her shell a lot since she’s been here,” Lunsford said. “She’s always been a quiet child. She has fun socializing with kids her own age.”

While Lunsford admits that anime is not her thing, she’s able to take part in it with her daughter through the outfits. They are expensive if bought on the Internet, so the pair research and make them at home.

“We have fun together,” Rebekah said.

Socializing is a big plus with the club, Chrissy House said. The club is “inclusive,” she said.

“I think that’s a big aspect,” she said. “They’re a little different. I think that here, they found their people. You can tell when they get together that they’re excited to see each other.”

Rogers echoed that message.

“I like coming here because I can talk to people who have the same interests as me,” he said.

The club is run by library staffers Kelly and Ashley Shackley. Members meet twice a month on Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

It’s just one more way that the kids can stay connected to the library, Kelly said, and that makes the club a success. Many of the students’ drawings are put on display in the youth section of the library.

“We’re just so excited that they come on a regular basis,” she said. “We’re happy to offer this to the teens.”

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